Cooking up a pricey backyard barbecue

Grill master

If you really want to pull out all the stops, the most expensive barbecue, of course, has to start with a grill that embarrasses that thing rusting in the corner of your deck. It has to simultaneously make no sense whatsoever and all the sense in the world. This why a gold-plated barbecue was made.

Introduced by BeefEater Barbecues, apparently because they can, they had the state of mind to hand-plate every square inch of this grill in 24-karat gold, except for the cooking surface -- just in case someone actually wants to use a gold-plated barbecue. The value of the grill varies with the price of gold, but when the approximation is $164,000, does it really matter?

Though no one would question BeefEater's claim that the grill is "the ultimate in backyard bling," perhaps you like your remarkably expensive barbecues a little more understated. Thankfully, there's the Outdoor Kitchen Center, also from BeefEater Barbecues. Maxing out at four burners and about $50,000, there will be no mistaking that a statement is being made, in addition to burgers.

If you're one for dramatic effect, you can also opt to make your guests mill around in the backyard until they start wondering aloud where the food is. Then, you can answer them with the blaring horn of the 18-wheeler you have parked in your driveway that no one noticed on the way in. It's Texas Lil's, noted as the world's largest transportable smoker. That claim doesn't seem disputable when the trailer is 57 feet long with 90,000 square inches of cooking surface.

David Klose, who manufactures mobile barbecue pits, says Texas Lil's cost is "half that of a Continental airplane." That must translate to "a lot."

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